The holidays are coming.

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R: Yesterday was quite a dull day. We spent most of it in a mini van on the Icefields parkway, heading for Jasper. We started with Schnitzels in Banff before we headed off, served in the "traditional style", with Anchovies and Capers. Now, I'm not a schnitzel expert but it didn't sound right.

We spent 4 hours on the bus driving through incredible Icefields scenery (an Icefield consists of multiple glaciers). Sadly the cloud level was so low that you got the impression of magnificent scenery around you, but no actual views. It's snowed pretty heavily while we were on the way - I was pretty glad I wasn't doing the driving at times.

We've ended up in a small B&B that seems to be run by Welsh people called the Williams, also given the number of dragon flags. It's pretty cosy but it's in a basement, so we have two little windows high which look out onto.... snow!

Jasper is a lot quieter than Banff. There's a lot less here, once again most things are closed as it isn't quite ski season, and is not summer any longer. There is stunning scenery, however, but no bus service, so we're a bit stuck - tomorrow we have decided to rent a car for a day so we can get to some bits and pieces just outside town.

Today we hit the trails. It was snowing quite heavily this morning, so we asked tourist info what to do, and they suggested a trail that led into the low hills and a pretty lake, called Lake Beaufort. While we were on our way, the snow turned to sleet, then rain, so by the time we reached the lake we were pretty bedraggled. Good job there was a posh hotel on the lake shore - we went in and dripped everywhere.

Christmas here has totally begun. In the hotel were a group of ladies singing Christmas carols. It had a gingerbread house grotto (which we dripped in) and a Christmas event going on. So my attempts to escape the run up to Christmas have failed. (Cate also made me watch the Sainsbury's advert featuring Mog the Cat, so that didn't help).

We had KFC for lunch - first one of the trip. They do a bowl of chips, with popcorn chicken on it, with cheese melted over the top, and gravy over the top (called a Poutine) which looked pretty disgusting but tasted ok. Some of you will wonder why I have included this paragraph, others will know exactly why...

Finally, I walked to Slough (Cottonwood Slough), a pretty frozen lake up the hill. On the way back, I found a family of deer walking along the middle of the train tracks who were attracting attention from the very few tourists in town.

Well, onwards.... It's Mojito night at the bar in town, and we haven't spent very much today!

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